Angling by Trevor Johnson: January 31

WHAT a washout! Was that about the worst weekend in local angling’s living memory or what?

Inches of snow – aided by the heavy overnight rain – melting and pouring into rivers and lakes brought on the mother of floods.

But one man DID catch! Saturday, on the channel above Olney’s Goosey bridge – a backwater off a backwater off the main Ouse – Graham Prince resorted to pole and single pinkie laid on down the side.

Hoping for a few small roach, he sat it out until he hooked a fish which stretched his elastic to the limit...and turned out to be a 4-4 chub! Well done that man.

Four others, even the local cut was, for once, barely worth a try – being either still frozen or flooded over its banks, depending on which side of Cosgrove lock you’d gone to look.

At Stoke Bruerne the inrushing Tove had taken it to a 50 year high of around two feet above normal and at Grafton it was pouring over the towpath into fields behind.

In a completely different world, almost on the other side of the world, Steve Bull (son of Olney’s Ron) is pictured cradling an 80lb siamese carp landed during a recent trip to Gillham’s lake in Thailand. Envious? could be...

Fishing was probably the last thing on local rod Rob Harriman’s mind Saturday evening when, appearing on the national lottery show, his luck was really in and he carried off £25,000 just for correctly answering a couple of questions. Envious? VERY...

Changes are ahead for MK vets. Ian Greenhood is to run the series when John Hewison stands down. A new ‘pegger out’ (or two) is required – any volunteers?

This year’s fixtures will include a clash with the Towcester vets on silvers-packed Stockton reservoir.

Flashing back to Newport’s 1976 AGM, this nostalgia snap includes guest of honour the late, great, Ivan Marx (third from left, back row), Don Wills (left, back row) in the days when he had hair – and John Shann, front left next to a junior (ish) Roger Stratton.

Yes, those clothes and whiskers were ‘in’ in the 70s – in Newport, anyway! Anyone know who the others are?

Do you moan about red signal crayfish, and wonder what someone else is doing about the wretched things? Well now’s the chance for YOU to do something.

Working through the Upper Ouse Consultative, the Environment Agency is to provide 300 traps and a block licence for responsible people to operate them on the Ouse, Ouzel and Tove.